Emperor Feng Zhao glanced at the person who was engrossed in reading, then put his hands behind his back and said, "Go back."
"Father, aren't you going in to take a look?"
Emperor Feng Zhao glanced at Feng Jinghan and said irritably, "If you want to read, go inside yourself. I'll be staying at the inn for a while longer. There'll be plenty of time later."
"Then I'll go back with Father." It was a rare opportunity to chat with her father like this without any pressure, and Feng Jinghan was a little reluctant to part ways.
Emperor Feng Zhao's eyes were filled with a smile. "No need. I just passed by the chess and card room and was thinking of going in to take a look. You can go and play by yourself."
Seeing Emperor Feng Zhao's resolute attitude, Feng Jinghan did not insist. Only after Emperor Feng Zhao's figure disappeared did he hurriedly enter the library.
Emperor Feng Zhao strolled leisurely with his hands behind his back, muttering, "This silly boy, he only seems a little less composed at times like this." Though he complained, he was secretly pleased.
The fact that the son was able to reveal his true nature in front of him meant that the relationship between father and son had progressed further, which was what he wanted to see.
As he walked and pondered, Emperor Feng Zhao hesitated for a moment when he reached the chess and card room. His previous suggestion to go to the chess and card room was just an excuse. Now that it was right at the door, he might as well go in and take a look.
Mahjong and other board games were also available in the capital, and sometimes he would see several concubines playing them in the inner palace. However, with so many affairs to attend to in the palace, he was never interested in the games the concubines played.
The original card and chess room was just a small room, but An Ge had the construction team expand the space. Even so, it's still bustling with activity every day, and sometimes it's even impossible to find a table.
"Bang! Hehe, I'm on a lucky streak today, I might just win by myself!"
"That's not necessarily true, I did pretty well this time too. By the way, Sister Wu, I heard your grandson went to that kindergarten, how is it? I'm still debating whether to let my eldest granddaughter go too."
"Fifty thousand! Of course I'll go. Since the kindergarten opened, my old bones have finally been freed. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the leisure to play cards now."
Besides, kindergartens have dedicated teachers; aren't they better at teaching than we are? You're just too much of a worrywart; I can never find you to play cards with.
“You’re right. I’ll register her in a few days.”
"Then you should hurry up. The store manager is giving us employees' families some benefits now. It doesn't take too much effort for our children to get into school. I've heard that a lot of people want to send their children there."
"Oh dear, I'd better hurry back, I'm not playing this round."
"Hey, I'm almost there, finish this before you leave."
"What's the point of playing? It's already a draw. I'm going back now. You guys have fun." After saying that, Aunt Wang left like a gust of wind with her bound feet.
"Sigh, we're one short again. Hey, buddy, wanna join us?" Old Li noticed that Emperor Feng Zhao had been standing there for a while, so he pulled him down to sit.
Before Emperor Fengzhao could refuse, he was pulled to the mahjong table. Since he had nothing else to do, why not try and see what made mahjong so appealing?
After playing two rounds, Emperor Fengzhao was still not satisfied. He finally understood why, after mahjong was introduced to the palace, he could no longer see his concubines who used to compete for his favor.
As Old Li shuffled the cards, he said, "Your skill is pretty good. By the way, I haven't asked yet, what should I call you, Big Brother?"
"My surname is Feng." Feng is the imperial surname, but it does not mean that it belongs only to the royal family, so Emperor Feng Zhao is not afraid of being recognized.
"I see you're younger than me, so I'll call you Brother Feng. This is Sister Wu and Brother Wang. Let's hang out together often in the future."
Emperor Feng Zhao's lips twitched. Even in his humblest circumstances, no one had ever addressed him like that. However, the form of address felt novel, and Emperor Feng Zhao didn't find it offensive. "Then I'll rely on you for guidance from now on, brother."
"No problem, no problem."
As they fought and chatted, the topic gradually shifted back to the children.
“My grandson is such a headache. He can’t concentrate on his studies at all. His teacher even came to our home last time. If I hadn’t known that he wasn’t called in for doing something wrong, I would have given him a good beating. I’m so envious of you, Brother Wang. I heard that your granddaughter got first place in the last exam.”
Brother Wang is usually not very talkative, but when he talks about his granddaughter, he becomes very talkative. "Haha, it's all thanks to the child's hard work. No one in our family has ever been a scholar, but I never expected my granddaughter to have such a talent for studying."
Although women are not allowed to take the imperial examinations, our whole family has decided that as long as our child wants to study, we will do everything we can, even if it means selling everything we own, to support her education. There's no harm in more education.
Aunt Wu agreed, saying, "Of course! My second granddaughter has some talent in painting, and I'm planning to let her develop in that area. Also, Xianyuan School hardly charges any tuition, so there's no need to sell everything we own. By the way, Brother Feng, you don't seem that old. Do you have any grandchildren? How many children do you have?"
Emperor Fengzhao didn't react at first, and was thinking about what Brother Wang said. He only realized what was going on when he saw Wu Niang looking over. "Well, he has two grandsons, three granddaughters, and several sons and daughters."
Emperor Fengzhao gave a vague answer; he couldn't very well say he had dozens of children, could he?
Even so, it drew envy from the people in the surrounding area. "Having many children is good. I like having a lively and bustling home."
Old Li chimed in, "Didn't you recently separate the household for your children?"
“The fact that we separated doesn’t mean they won’t come to see me. In fact, we’ve become even closer after the separation,” said Aunt Wu, her smile wide and unstoppable.
Emperor Feng Zhao swallowed the words he was about to say. Judging from everyone's expressions, they actually thought it was normal for the family to separate while their parents were still alive. Although he didn't understand this practice, he wisely kept quiet.
"By the way, how's your child's schoolwork?"
Emperor Feng Zhao thought about it carefully for a moment, "It should be alright. The family has hired a tutor for us, and he has been educated since he was a child."
If a great Confucian scholar of the time heard Emperor Feng Zhao describe him as a schoolteacher, he would surely feel that his sincere feelings had been misplaced.
Judging from Emperor Feng Zhao's attire, the group knew he came from a well-off family. Hearing his words, they were somewhat envious. "That's really good. My son and daughter didn't have the good fortune to come at the right time. If the immortals had come when they were young, they might have become learned people."
"It's not bad now. I heard the school is planning to open a night school, which is open to all ages. I'm planning to go and recharge myself when that happens."
Emperor Feng Zhao didn't know what "charging" meant, but judging from the lively discussion among the group, he could roughly guess its meaning.
He recalled the casual conversations in the marketplace and felt he should be more modest. "The kids are a handful too. If I didn't keep them in check, they'd turn the classroom upside down. They're always studying, I wonder where all that brotherly love and respect has gone?"
She had only intended to say a few words in agreement, but she got angrier and angrier as she spoke. "I really envy how harmonious your family is."
Emperor Fengzhao never expected that one day he would actually envy ordinary people in the city.
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